Post Office's losses

Post Office's losses

From Republika

I want to comment on the loss suffered by PT Pos Indonesia
(the Post Office) as reported in Republika on Nov. 7. The Post
Office's General Manager, Hana Suyana, predicted that by the end
of this year (2005), the company would have suffered a loss of
about Rp 100 billion.

The fuel prices increases have made their operational costs to
go up, while its income cannot match expenses. In order to
minimize the losses, PT Pos has introduced "efficiency measures"
in its working system.

Apart from the increases in transportation costs and that of
the procurement of the post materials, the expenditure for
salaries for the company's employees, which total 24,000 and
15,000 retirees, also has gone up.

In my opinion, the net loss this year has come about because
many people no longer depend on regular postal services, now they
prefer to send short messages via cellular phones, which is less
expensive and much, much faster. SMSs are also used for sending
religious and seasonal greetings.

But this must be taken as a motivating force for the Post
company to improve their services and work harder to be more
competitive in rendering its services to the public.

BUDHI PURWANTO
Wonogiri, Central Java